While engaging in cold weather activities, a participant's face is frequently covered with protective gear such as a hat, goggles and a neck garment. Sometimes the neck garment and hat are combined into a unified head garment. “Head garment” as used herein refers to either a neck garment that also covers the face or a combined hat/neck garment. Although it is common practice to leave the nose and mouth exposed for ease of breathing and to prevent the user's goggles from fogging, there are conditions, such as extremely cold temperatures, when the user will also want to cover his (“his” is used in a generic sense to mean both genders) nose and mouth with a warm protective material. This can create problems. Since the user has to breath through the material covering his nose and mouth, the flow of moist exhaled breath is restricted from passing through the material and typically finds a less restrictive path along the sides of the nose and into the goggles. Once in the goggle cavity, the moist breath condenses and freezes on the goggle lens impairing the user's vision. The moist exhaled breath can also permeate the head garment material and eventually freeze causing discomfort. Some head garment designs attempt to solve this problem by providing holes for the mouth and nostrils. This may solve the goggle fogging problem but leaves the small areas of skin around the mouth and nostrils directly exposed to the cold external environment which is uncomfortable and can leave the user susceptible to frost bite.
A cold weather hood disclosed in U.S. Letters Pat. No. 5,884,336 to Kathleen K. Stout, and cold weather breathing devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,461,292 and 4,441,494 to Anthony P. Montalbano, U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,247 to Bert R. Stroup, U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,474 to Joseph H. Edwards, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,804 to Carey et al. all allow either the bottom of the nose or mouth or both to be directly exposed to the cold external environment.
The cold weather hoods disclosed in U.S. Letters Pat. No. 5,575,009 to David Ryvin, U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,086 to Allen F. Jackson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,671,268 to Patrick T. Hunt, U.S. Pat. No. 3,814,094 to Armand De Angelis and Albert J. Laliberte, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,379 to Thomas S. Martin all disclose single cavity devices that cover both the nose and mouth. This allows the moist breath to surround the nose and mouth creating a humid environment which is uncomfortable.
Finally, cold weather breathing devices disclosed in U.S. Letters Pat. Nos. 4,461,292 and 4,441,494 to Anthony P. Montalbano, U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,247 to Bert R. Stroup, U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,086 to Al/en F. Jackson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,671,268 to Patrick T. Hunt, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,814,094 to Armand De Angelis and Albert J. Laliberte all implement designs that use the body to preheat the air to be inhaled. These designs are complex, cumbersome and would impede the range of motion necessary in many cold weather activities. Furthermore, these designs create resistance to the flow of exhaled breath which can be uncomfortable and cause a user's goggles to fog.